by Kelly Greenbaum

Created on: August 31, 2009   Last Updated: September 02, 2009

Town hall meetings should be democracy in action. However, if there are guns, rude and disruptive people, ranting, and other distractions, communication goes astray and real conversations don't happen. Town hall meetings provide an excellent platform to discuss issues. However, that doesn't happen when people are threatened, intimidated, and afraid to show up.

There is no doubt that health care is a hot topic but it is also one of the most important topics. Knowing our health care system is currently unsustainable means there needs to be serious discussions. For good ideas to be implemented calm heads need to prevail.

Yelling at one another never solves anything. This nation is dealing with a national crisis that affects each and every one of us. And time is running out. Is it no wonder that people are frightened? There are people who have lost everything, and are hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt because they had cancer or some other (pre-existing) condition.

How about the forty-five million people who are not insured? Many of these people work two jobs and still have no health care insurance for themselves or their families. Everyone knows someone without health care. Maybe they should be the one's shouting and screaming and bringing guns to town hall meetings?

Perhaps they are not there shouting because they are busy working two jobs, too sick, or are homeless and don't have a ride. What if they are just too afraid and anxious because they have heard that people are bringing guns, talking about Nazis, and screaming at one another? Does this sound like democracy in action?

The current focus of town hall meetings should be for all to safely come together and start brainstorming a way to clean up the waste in health care and to punish the abusers, aka, the health and pharmaceutical companies. They are the people who have been benefiting the most from our current policy.

These are the same ones who have lined the pockets of our representatives and paid for their campaigns. Surprise, surprise; these are the same people who run with the scare tactics of socialism, insist we will lose our individual rights, and try to keep us blind-sided by lies and distractions.

This same mentality was used to keep us from actually recounting the votes in Florida for the 2000 election. The Bush supporters called on the far right to act out by storming into city buildings, screaming, and chanting, trying to intimidate the people and do anything they could to keep people

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>